Went out with the camera this lunchtime to take some pictures of the Acer palmatum Okagami, and the quince blossom.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Pictures!
Went out with the camera this lunchtime to take some pictures of the Acer palmatum Okagami, and the quince blossom.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Germination
Germination is breaking out all over. In raised bed 1, the pak choi and little gem lettuce are now up, as are about half of the broad beans. Cue frantic watering! A few of the sweet peas are up in the mini greenhouse, as are all the salad leaves - had the greenhouse open to the sun for a few hours today, and they grew before my very eyes!
Next lot of sowing is scheduled for this weekend - need more compost first!
Meanwhile, the guerilla rhubarb is up again with a vengeance, and has been cut for the benefit of Karen (my wonderful cleaner, who loves rhubarb crumble) and Pixie. So glad to have good homes for it, as I am not desperately keen on it myself, and it's a lot of hassle to prepare.
Moley is still going strong...
Next lot of sowing is scheduled for this weekend - need more compost first!
Meanwhile, the guerilla rhubarb is up again with a vengeance, and has been cut for the benefit of Karen (my wonderful cleaner, who loves rhubarb crumble) and Pixie. So glad to have good homes for it, as I am not desperately keen on it myself, and it's a lot of hassle to prepare.
Moley is still going strong...
Friday, April 22, 2011
The rowan tree
The microscopic rowan tree has surprised me by suddenly producing lots of flowers - four trusses so far - so maybe we'll see some berries this year! It always amazes me how the tiniest rowans seem to be able to carry the weight of great bunches of berries. The idea of the rowan tree was partly to provide bird-food, so this is good. Talking of bird-food, must go and re-fill the seed feeders, the sudden spate of greenfinches this morning has finished the last of the seed off!
Salad veg has germinated in the greenhouse, but still waiting for the sweet peas. They always seem to take for ever!
The mole is excavating a great swathe across the lawn. If Matthew has his way, its days are numbered, but I am holding firm to the belief that it has a right to live in our garden, even if its activities are seriously inconvenient! Does anyone know how long moles live? This is the second spring we've had this one. And since next door's excavations for their new garage, our garden is now pretty much landlocked, so it's unlikely to be able to dig its way out to somewhere else - I think we're stuck with it for its natural lifespan...
A whole lot of sparrows have just appeared - don't get many of them, so it's always nice when they appear. The pair of bullfinches have been around a lot over the last week or so, such handsome birds. All we need now is a hedgehog, and we'd have a right little nature reserve here!
Salad veg has germinated in the greenhouse, but still waiting for the sweet peas. They always seem to take for ever!
The mole is excavating a great swathe across the lawn. If Matthew has his way, its days are numbered, but I am holding firm to the belief that it has a right to live in our garden, even if its activities are seriously inconvenient! Does anyone know how long moles live? This is the second spring we've had this one. And since next door's excavations for their new garage, our garden is now pretty much landlocked, so it's unlikely to be able to dig its way out to somewhere else - I think we're stuck with it for its natural lifespan...
A whole lot of sparrows have just appeared - don't get many of them, so it's always nice when they appear. The pair of bullfinches have been around a lot over the last week or so, such handsome birds. All we need now is a hedgehog, and we'd have a right little nature reserve here!
Friday, April 15, 2011
Quince!
Very exciting - the quince tree has blossom buds! I counted 20-odd earlier. Brave little tree - I'm not convinced it's strong enough to carry fruit if it manages to set any, but full marks for trying!
The first salad leaves (Salad Bowl) have germinated in the mini greenhouse. And 11 out of 12 asparagus crowns have sprouted spears - many more of them than last year, too.
The first salad leaves (Salad Bowl) have germinated in the mini greenhouse. And 11 out of 12 asparagus crowns have sprouted spears - many more of them than last year, too.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
First sowing of the year
I see from my gardening diary of last year that it is exactly 12 months to the day since my first sowing last year! The warm weather tempted me out today to do some sowing of misc things for the mini greenhouse.
I have sowed three varieties of sweet pea from Kings Seeds - Tara, Ethel Grace, and Alan Williams (three more will go in at the end of the month). Also tomato Tiny Tim, and four large pots of salad leaves to get the season started - lollo rosso, Salad Bowl, rocket and a mixture of oriental salad leaves.
I also sowed the first of the broad beans Bunyard's Exhibition into bed 1 (the raised be nearest the house), together with some pak choi and Little Gem lettuces. Little Gem did well for me last year despite severe neglect, but pak choi got slugged, so we shall see - if it's not a success this year, I'll give in gracefully and concentrate on other things!
I really need to get some large troughs for the salad leaves - the Factory Shop had some last week, maybe I'll call in on my way home tomorrow and see if they still have any. Six would be good - two for tomatoes (rather like growbags, but more orderly!) and four for a succession of salad leaves.
More will go in at the end of the month - I have a list! - but so far I have filled two and a half of the four shelves of the mini greenhouse. More sweet peas, more toms, and the chilli which is my fun sowing of the year, will account for the rest, I think. When the sun has been on it for a couple of hours, it's appreciably warmer in there than outside. It will be interesting to see what effect it has on germination times - I recorded those last year, so have a benchmark - last year's were indoors, but in very dark conditions as I just don't have enough windowsill space in this house (and what there is tends to be rather prone to being jumped on by Sophie! - for whom I have also sown the latest indoor mini-lawn of cat grass!).
The trees are all looking good - the quince especially is well on and covered in lovely downy leaves. Given the hammering they had during the winter, I am quite relieved. The dogwoods are in leaf too, which looks great against the red stems.
The Acer palmatum Okagami which I bought down in Dorset last year, and which I potted on in Feb as per instructions from the nursery, is looking well too - lovely deep wine-red leaves, which is what it's supposed to do! I really must get round to getting it a proper pot soon - the blue glazed one it's temporarily standing in (simply to stop it blowing over) doesn't suit its new colour scheme at all. Cue a visit to the garden centre!
I have sowed three varieties of sweet pea from Kings Seeds - Tara, Ethel Grace, and Alan Williams (three more will go in at the end of the month). Also tomato Tiny Tim, and four large pots of salad leaves to get the season started - lollo rosso, Salad Bowl, rocket and a mixture of oriental salad leaves.
I also sowed the first of the broad beans Bunyard's Exhibition into bed 1 (the raised be nearest the house), together with some pak choi and Little Gem lettuces. Little Gem did well for me last year despite severe neglect, but pak choi got slugged, so we shall see - if it's not a success this year, I'll give in gracefully and concentrate on other things!
I really need to get some large troughs for the salad leaves - the Factory Shop had some last week, maybe I'll call in on my way home tomorrow and see if they still have any. Six would be good - two for tomatoes (rather like growbags, but more orderly!) and four for a succession of salad leaves.
More will go in at the end of the month - I have a list! - but so far I have filled two and a half of the four shelves of the mini greenhouse. More sweet peas, more toms, and the chilli which is my fun sowing of the year, will account for the rest, I think. When the sun has been on it for a couple of hours, it's appreciably warmer in there than outside. It will be interesting to see what effect it has on germination times - I recorded those last year, so have a benchmark - last year's were indoors, but in very dark conditions as I just don't have enough windowsill space in this house (and what there is tends to be rather prone to being jumped on by Sophie! - for whom I have also sown the latest indoor mini-lawn of cat grass!).
The trees are all looking good - the quince especially is well on and covered in lovely downy leaves. Given the hammering they had during the winter, I am quite relieved. The dogwoods are in leaf too, which looks great against the red stems.
The Acer palmatum Okagami which I bought down in Dorset last year, and which I potted on in Feb as per instructions from the nursery, is looking well too - lovely deep wine-red leaves, which is what it's supposed to do! I really must get round to getting it a proper pot soon - the blue glazed one it's temporarily standing in (simply to stop it blowing over) doesn't suit its new colour scheme at all. Cue a visit to the garden centre!
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